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Community Surgery Day: Blog Post #2

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Today is the third annual Community Surgery Day in Summit County! Each year this event improves in terms of the number of people willing to help and the results experienced by patients. Summit Community Care Clinic is fortunate enough to be the main referral source for beneficiaries of this event. We could not be more proud to participate in something so important to our community.

Every day our providers see people who need help they cannot access due to limited income and absence of health insurance. These patients are carpenters, small business owners, bartenders, construction workers, massage therapists, hair stylists, real estate agents, ski instructors, friends and neighbors…without options. Community Surgery Day moves people from, in many cases, an inability to work because of injury or illness, back to self sufficiency. Volunteerism throughout the year and during this day from Vail Summit Orthopaedics and other community providers is the only option for many of our patients. This event is truly the highlight of our year because we actually have a solution to offer!

Community Surgery Day is not simple in its execution. Patients are screened for income eligibility and selected by their Primary Care Providers here at Summit Community Care Clinic. Selection occurs based on need, appropriateness for outpatient procedure and type of surgical specialty required. All patients fill out applications which go in front of a review panel. Then, patients must be medically cleared and go through assessment for readiness for surgery. Volunteers are procured (the number of volunteers for this year is approaching 50!). All time and supplies as well as the space from Peak One Surgery center is donated. Patients enter the surgery center with a myriad of physical limitations and exit with a new sense of hope. Please join me in the next month in a genuine expression of gratitude to all of the people that make this event possible!